Engineer presents professional information designed to keep U.S. military and civilian engineers informed of current and emerging developments within their areas of expertise for the purpose of enhancing their professional development.
Issue link: https://engineer.epubxp.com/i/284727
24 Engineer January–April 2014 T he Army's recent announcement of the conversion of brigade special troops battalions (BSTBs) into bri- gade engineer battalions (BEBs) represents a great opportunity for the Engineer Regiment to solidify its place as an essential member of the combined arms team. The BEB will provide brigade combat team (BCT) commanders with a robust set of organic combat engineer capabilities and adequate mission command capacity to receive addi- tional enablers tailored for specifc missions. Also, the BEB structure corrects some of the organizational defciencies in the BSTB structure, especially the absence of a forward support company. Despite these improvements, BEB com- manders will face many of the same challenges that BSTB commanders have faced in the 9 years since the Army intro- duced the BSTB. As a combat engineer who has commanded 4th BSTB, 101st Airborne Division, for the past 2 years in training and in combat, I offer this list of my top 10 recom- mendations to future BEB commanders. 1. Command the Enti Battalion I t is important for commanders to remember that they are not commanding an engineer battalion with a few enablers attached for administrative oversight. The Army has decided to entrust engineer senior leaders with the training, development, and operational employment of organic chemical, biological, nuclear, and radiological; mili- tary intelligence (MI); and signal formations of the BCTs, so commanders must develop expertise in the capabilities and requirements of these units. To add to the challenge, these units are much more complicated to train than the engineer companies. In the BSTB, every platoon is unique, except for the two sapper platoons. The additional engineer company in the BEB will give the sappers even greater commonality and shared training opportunities. Moreover, sapper training is relatively straight- forward compared to the functional MI, signal, and support platoons. Give a sapper platoon some time, a piece of land, and a case or two of rations and they can have a great train- ing event. For example, the tactical unmanned aircraft system platoon requires all of the above, plus an air- feld, aviation gas (which is likely not available through the brigade Class III commodity manager), Federal Aviation Administration-approved plans that are with aircraft and artillery, a qualifed instructor-operator, and more. These complicated operations require that the battalion commander and staff are well versed in the basics of each specialty platoon in the battalion. By Lieutenant Colonel Larry F. Dillard, Jr. Soldiers from the 19th Engineer Battalion string concertina wire in Afghanistan. EN Dillard.1.indd 27 3/12/2014 1:17:16 PM